Relax in Paradise at Naples Spas and Luxury Resorts

You’re on vacation on Florida’s Paradise Coast. You’ve luxuriated on the beach, indulged in terrific food and drink, shopped ‘til you dropped, perused art galleries, taken in a sunset, slept under high-thread count sheets. It’s all been wonderful. Your mind is clear; your body is as loose as the screws on that old lawnmower you’ve stopped worrying about.

And yet … a little voice whispers: there’s more. There’s a next level of pampering. And that’s when it dawns on you. The spa.

Florida’s Paradise Coast is an absolute spa haven. Our many luxury resorts feature full-service spas, and the area offers numerous stand-alone day spas and wellness centers. Collectively they provide the full gamut: more types of massage than you knew about, facials, body scrubs, exfoliations, steam rooms, saunas, hot and cold pools, rain showers, Vichy showers, sleep treatments, meditation rooms — and that just touches the surface. And don’t forget hair and nails and waxing. Many Paradise Coast spas also include a fitness room.

If you lean more new age, Naples offers halotherapy at the Salt Cave and the Eastern-influenced Om Spa.

Each facility has its own tone, flavor and menu of services. And at least one is rethinking the spa experience. The new Spa by JW, at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, has 24 treatment rooms to go along with a downstairs social space. Clients can come in and request a specific treatment, but spa staff encourages another approach.

“We look at it from the perspective of what the customer is seeking, what they hope to attain,” says the hotels’ marketing manager, Tracy Tirell. “We have four benefit states: calm, indulge, invigorate, renew — and we customize the experience along those lines. We find that newer spa customers may not know what to ask for, so we encourage them to say, ‘This is how I want to feel. Help me achieve that.’”

The Spa by JW knows that time can be a factor, so they offer Express Spa. The 12- or 25-minute treatments take place in a deluxe massage chair that also touches the other sense of sight, sound and smell.

Back on the mainland, the Spa and Fitness Center at the Naples Grande Beach Resort is an enchanting oasis. It encompasses four pavilions in the Japanese tradition, set amid exquisite gardens and water features. “We find that once our clients get in their robe and slippers, they get their treatments, but also take advantage of the spa as a sanctuary,” says Sharon, a staff aesthetician. “They use the tranquility room or meditation lounge, or relax outdoors on the sundeck, where it’s quieter than a pool environment. You can just stay in your robe and slippers until you feel like checking out.”

How does the Spa at Naples Grande want customers to feel after their visit? Relaxed, rejuvenated, renewed, de-stressed, of course, but also, “I want them to say to their significant other, ‘Let’s go out this evening,’” says Randy, a hair stylist. “You’re glowing.”